Why volleyball queen Janet Wanja and mzungu boyfriend broke up

Janet Wanja and boyfriend

Janet Wanja, the beautiful volleyball queen will have to live with a painful reminder of the good and the bad memories she shared with her ex-boyfriend, Giulio Calauti.

Wanja was left with nothing but a queen’s crown tattoo permanently inked on her arm after breaking up with her Italian boyfriend of close to two years.

The pair had been so tight, at least going by their Instagram posts, until the IT expert followed in the footsteps of Andrew Swearman, Wanja’s ex who walked out of a relationship barely two years after the duo tied the knot in a private wedding in 2014.

So secretive was the wedding, held at some posh garden resort in Tigoni, Kiambu County, that only about 100 guests were allowed access.

But Swearman was floored by a youthful and energetic Italian Calauti, who took over after Wanja, 34, moved on following their break up in 2016. 

The breakup is reported to have happened after Swearman was pictured with another woman in Mombasa, perhaps, a confirmation to Wanja that the mzungu was ‘eating outside’.

Wanja later moved in with Calauti at their rental house in one of the city estates along the Thika Super Highway.

The pair was so tight that they decided to have a common tattoo on their hands with Calauti printing a kings crown tattoo, while Wanja settled for a queen’s crown.

But the lovebirds called it quits after the relationship became tasteless, bringing to an end two years of immense advertisement of the affair on the internet.

Kenya Pipeline's Janet Wanja reacts after losing to Egypt's Al Ahly in the Africa Women's Club Volleyball Championships finals in Cairo on Sunday. [PHOTO:CAVB]

The breakup, according to a source close to the former celebrated setter, has left Wanja “broken.”

“Things are not fine with her. I can’t tell exactly what is going on in her life but she’s not the same Wanja that we all knew. She looks totally broken,” said Wanja’s close friend.

Janet Wanja

But when reached for comments, Wanja who is the longest serving member of the Malkia Strikers squad dismissed the reports terming them baseless and fabrications

“I think you journalists should be serious for once. Why would a learned and serious journalist ask about such personal things, more so when they are lies? This is stupidity!” she retorted.

Wanja accused unnamed people of spreading rumours to seek cheap attention.

“There are people who have no life and can only mudsling others by spreading such rumours and lies. Don’t come to me with such blatant lies. My life is personal and private,” said an angry Wanja.

She said they are tight with her husband and was not in a position to tell anyone what is going on in their marriage.

“Whether we breakup or stay together is none of anyone’s business. Let people talk about serious issues that can help Kenyans, not people’s private affairs,” she fumed.

Janet Wanja

Wanja, who is currently in camp with the national team preparing for the FIVB World Championship in Japan, challenged the media to report about their preparation and not their pregnancies and husbands.

“There are good stories out here that can be reported. I am almost retiring and this too can make a good read. Why don’t you come we sit down I tell you what I want to do when I retire,” he challenged.